XFLUX DOES NOT WORK ON MOST MODERN SYSTEMS

The xflux program that Fluxgui traditionally used to change the screen color hasn't worked on most modern systems since 2016, it's a closed source program that is not part of this project, and there are no plans to fix it. Because of this, Fluxgui by default now uses Redshift to control your screen color, which should be supported on all systems.

See Issue #27 for why xflux probably won't work on your system and how to test if it can.

f.lux indicator applet

Better lighting for your computer

The f.lux indicator applet fluxgui is an indicator applet that uses xflux or redshift to make the color of your computer's display adapt to the time of day: warm at night, and like sunlight during the day. Reducing blue light exposure in the evening can help you fall asleep at night. See https://justgetflux.com/research.html or http://jonls.dk/redshift/ for more details.

This project -- https://github.com/xflux-gui/fluxgui -- is only concerned with the fluxgui indicator applet program, not with the underlying xflux or redshift program the indicator applet controls. The xflux or redshift program is responsible for actually changing the color of your screen. See https://justgetflux.com/linux.html for more information about xflux.

The xflux program is downloaded automatically when installing fluxgui. You can install redshift via the redshift package on most Linux distros. Simply run fluxgui in your terminal after installation to open the applet. You can also easily configure the applet to auto-start on login.

Install Instructions

Only Python 3 is Supported

The fluxgui is only known to work with Python 3.

Ubuntu PPA Package Manager Install

The PPA was last updated in 2019 (last supported Ubuntu version is 18.04 - bionic) and so you probably want to do a manual install!

To install via apt:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:nathan-renniewaldock/flux
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install fluxgui

See ubuntuhandbook.org instructions for more details.

Workaround for Ubuntu 20.04 LTS and above

While sudo apt-get update there is an error #144

E: The repository 'http://ppa.launchpad.net/nathan-renniewaldock/flux/ubuntu focal Release' does not have a Release file. 

To solve:

1. sudo vim /etc/apt/sources.list.d/nathan-renniewaldock-ubuntu-flux-focal.list
2. Replace focal with bionic or whatever distro you're using and save it.
3. Repeat above mentioned steps from line 2.

If you have trouble with the PPA version try the manual install below.

Fedora Package Manager Install

There is no Fedora package provided yet. Please use Manual Install below.

Manual Install

To install manually you first install the dependencies using your package manager, and then install fluxgui using the provided setup.py. The manual install can be done locally or system wide.

Install Dependencies Using Package Manager

For the appindicator implementation, both plain appindicator and the Ayatana ayatanaappindicator are supported.

Ubuntu/Debian

Partial list of Python 3 dependencies (after the upgrade to GTK+ 3 in PR #112. If you discover the correct deps, please submit a PR):

sudo apt-get install python3-pexpect python3-distutils python3-xdg gir1.2-ayatanaappindicator3-0.1 gir1.2-gtk-3.0 redshift

Out of date Python 2 dependencies; the remaining Python 3 deps should be similar:

sudo apt-get install git python-gconf python-gtk2 python-glade2 libxxf86vm1 libcanberra-gtk-module

Fedora/CentOS

WARNING: these dependencies may be out of date after the upgrade to GTK+ 3 in PR #112. If you discover the correct deps, please submit a PR.

sudo yum install git python-appindicator python2-pyxdg python3-pexpect gnome-python2-gconf pygtk2 pygtk2-libglade redshift

Install fluxgui

There are separate instructions in the code below for installing system wide and for installing locally in your user directory; choose one.

# Download fluxgui
cd /tmp
git clone "https://github.com/xflux-gui/fluxgui.git"
cd fluxgui
./download-xflux.py

# EITHER install system wide
sudo ./setup.py install --record installed.txt

# EXCLUSIVE OR, install in your home directory
#
# The fluxgui program installs
# into ~/.local/bin, so be sure to add that to your PATH if installing
# locally. In particular, autostarting fluxgui in Gnome will not work
# if the locally installed fluxgui is not on your PATH.
./setup.py install --user --record installed.txt
       
# Run flux
fluxgui

Manual Uninstall

If you manually installed instead of using package manager, you can uninstall by making setup.py tell you where it installed files and then removing the installed files.

# EITHER uninstall globally
#
# The 'installed.txt' is generated when you install. Reinstall first if you
# as described above if you don't have an 'installed.txt' file.
sudo xargs rm -vr < installed.txt
sudo glib-compile-schemas "$(dirname "$(grep apps.fluxgui.gschema.xml installed.txt)")"

# EXCLUSIVE OR uninstall in your home directory
xargs rm -vr < installed.txt
glib-compile-schemas "$(dirname "$(grep apps.fluxgui.gschema.xml installed.txt)")"

License

The fluxgui applet is released under the MIT License. The underlying xflux program that actually controls the screen color is closed source.

Developing

Coding Style

Try to stick to the same coding style that is already used in the file you are editing. In particular, don't change the style of code you're not already editing for some other reason. Style changes create noise in the Git history and make the git blame output misleading. When reviewing a PR, the maintainers want to focus on the logical changes introduced by your code, and extraneous style changes make that harder.

Running fluxgui Without Installing

When working on fluxgui, you can use

cd <path to your fluxgui.git clone>
# You only need to download xflux once.
./download-xflux.py
glib-compile-schemas .
GSETTINGS_SCHEMA_DIR=`pwd` PATH=`pwd`:$PATH PYTHONPATH=`pwd`/src:$PYTHONPATH ./fluxgui

to test your local copy of fluxgui without installing anything.

Change Logs, Versions, Releases

Note changes in ./debian/changelog.

Use version <ver>~pre until ready to release a version. When releasing a version remove the ~pre suffix from the version strings and commit, copying the changelog changes for the current release into the commit message. Then git tag -a v<ver>, using the commit msg for the tag annotation, and push the version tag with git push origin v<ver>. Finally, create another commit with the new <next version>~pre version strings and changelog entry.

When releasing the version string needs to be changed in debian/changelog and setup.py, and the release dates needs to be added in debian/changelog.